where an angel steps a miracle is performed
on the evening preceding the day on which he was to die, the vicomte de beauharnais wrote his wife the following letter. it was his final farewell:
night of the 6th and 7th thermidor.
at the conciergerie
yet a few moments to give to love, to tears, and to regrets, and then every thought shall be devoted to the glory of my destiny and to the great dreams of immortality. when you receive this letter, oh, my josephine, your hus[pg 350]band, in the words of this world, will long have ceased to exist; but already in the bosom of his god, he will have tasted of the joys of real life. you see therefore that you must not weep for him. the wicked men, the senseless ones who survive him, should have all your tears, for they do evil and cannot repair it.
but do not let us blacken with their guilty image these last moments. i would, on the contrary, brighten them by thinking that, beloved by an adorable wife, the short day of our wedded life has passed without the slightest cloud. yes, our union has lasted but a day, and that reflection draws a sigh from me. but how serene and pure was that day which has vanished like a dream; and how grateful ought i to be to that providence which must have you in its keeping! to-day that same providence is taking me away before my time, and that is another of its favors. can a good man live without grief, and almost remorse, when he sees the whole universe in the clutches of the wicked? i should therefore be glad to be taken away from them, were it not for the feeling that i am leaving to their tender mercies lives which are so precious and dear to me. if, however, the thoughts of the dying are trustworthy presentiments, i feel in my heart that these butcheries are soon to cease, and that the executioners will follow their victims to the scaffold....
i resume these incoherent, almost illegible lines after being interrupted by my keepers. i have just undergone a cruel formality which, under other circumstances, i would rather have died than endure. but why cavil at necessity? reason teaches us to make the best of it.
after they had cut off my hair, i bethought me of buying back a part of it, in order to leave my dear wife and children unequivocal proofs and tokens of my dying remembrance.... i feel my heart breaking at this thought, and my paper is wet with tears.
farewell, all that i love. love me, speak of me, and never forget that the glory of dying a victim of tyrants, and a martyr to the cause of liberty, makes the scaffold illustrious!
arrested in turn, as we have already mentioned, the vicomtesse wrote to her children, just before she was to die, in the same strain. she ended a long letter, which we have before us, with these words:
[pg 351]
for my part, my children, as i am about to die, as did your father before me, a victim to the mad excesses which he always opposed, and which finally devoured him, i leave this life with no feeling of hatred for his executioners and for my own, whom i despise.
honor my memory even as you share my sentiments. i leave you for an inheritance the glory of your father and your mother's name, which some poor wretches have blessed—our love, our blessings, and our regrets.
madame de beauharnais was finishing this letter when she heard shouts of "death to robespierre! long live liberty!" in the courtyard. it was the morning of the 10th thermidor.
three days later madame de beauharnais, thanks to the friendship of madame tallien, was free; and a month later, through the influence of barras, such of her property as had not been sold was restored to her. the house in the rue neuve-des-mathurins, no. 11, was a part of this property.
when her son, who had not told her of his intention, returned with his father's sword in his hand, and told her of the circumstances attendant upon its return, in the first burst of enthusiasm she left her house, and, having only the boulevard to cross, hastened to thank the young general, who was much astonished at her appearance.
bonaparte held out his hand to the beautiful widow, more beautiful than ever in the mourning robes which she had worn ever since her husband's death. then he made a sign to her to step over the map and take a seat in that part of the room which was not encumbered by it.
josephine replied that she had come on foot and that she did not dare to put her dainty little shoe upon the map for fear of soiling it.
but bonaparte insisted, and with the assistance of his hand, she sprang over the gulf of genoa, the toe of her shoe making a mark where it touched the little town of voltri.
an armchair was standing on the other side. josephine seated herself in it, and bonaparte, who had remained stand[pg 352]ing near her, partly from respect and partly from admiration, put his knee on another chair and leaned with his arms on the back.
bonaparte was at first embarrassed. he was not accustomed to society, and had rarely talked with women; but he knew that there are three things to which their hearts are always alive—country, youth, and love. he therefore talked to madame de beauharnais of martinique, of her relatives, and of her husband. an hour slipped by, which, clever mathematician that he was, seemed no longer than a few minutes to him.
they spoke little of the present state of affairs, but bonaparte noticed that madame de beauharnais seemed to stand in close relations with all those who were in power, or who seemed likely to attain to it, her husband having been a prominent exponent of the reactionary opinions which were then in high favor.
for her part, madame de beauharnais was too clear-sighted a woman not to detect, for all his innate eccentricity, the powerful intellect of the victor of the 13th vendémiaire.
this complete and rapid success had made of bonaparte the hero of the day. he had often been mentioned in madame de beauharnais's presence; and curiosity and enthusiasm had prompted her, as we have said, to pay him this visit. she found that barras's protégé was intellectually far beyond what barras had claimed for him, so that when her servant came to tell her that madame tallien was waiting for her at her house, to go, she knew where, as they had planned, she exclaimed: "but our appointment was for five o'clock."
"and it is now six," said the lackey, bowing.
"heavens!" said she in surprise; "what shall i say to her?"
"tell her, madame," said bonaparte, "that your conversation charmed me so greatly that i prevailed upon you with my entreaties to give me another quarter of an hour."
[pg 353]
"that is bad advice," said josephine; "for in that case i should have to say what is not true in order to excuse myself."
"let me see," said bonaparte, anxious that she should prolong her visit for a few moments, "was madame tallien contemplating another 9th thermidor? i thought the days of robespierre were gone forever."
"if i were not ashamed to make the confession, i would tell you where we are going."
"tell me, madame. i shall be delighted to share a secret with you, especially one which you are ashamed to confess."
"are you superstitious?" asked madame de beauharnais.
"i am a corsican, madame."
"then you will not make fun of me. yesterday we visited madame gohier, and she told us that when she was passing through lyons ten years or more ago, she had had her fortune told by a young woman named lenormand. among other predictions which this fortune-teller made her, she said that she would love a man whom she could not marry, and would marry a man whom she did not love, but that after this marriage she would become very much attached to the man she had married. that has been precisely what has happened. now she has heard that this sibyl, named lenormand, is living in paris in the rue tournon, no. 7. madame tallien and i were curious to see her; and she agreed to come to my house, where we are to disguise ourselves as grisettes. the appointment was, as i have said, for half-past five; it is now a quarter past six. i must go and make my excuses to madame tallien, change my dress, and, if she still wishes it, go with her to mademoiselle lenormand's. i confess that we flatter ourselves, thanks to our disguise, that we shall be able to mislead the prophetess completely."
"you have no use for a companion, a locksmith, a blacksmith, or a gunsmith, i suppose?" said bonaparte.
"no, citizen," said madame de beauharnais, "i regret[pg 354] to say we have not. i have already been indiscreet in telling you of our plan. it would be far more so to permit you to accompany us."
"your will be done, madame, on earth as it is in heaven," said bonaparte.
and giving her his hand to lead her to the door, this time he avoided letting her step upon the beautiful map, upon which her foot, light as it was, had left its trace.
